Sunkissed By Spring Quilt

Who is ready for spring??? I can sure say I am. It’s me, Melissa Corry and I am so excited to bring you this tutorial. I just loved working with the beautiful Sunkissed prints designed by Sweetwater. They brightened my snow filled days and have me looking forward to seeing flowers again 🙂

Do you have a bed that needs a new spring inspired quilt, or a splash of Spring to snuggle up in? Then click on over to Burgundy Buttons where Leah has created an exclusive Sunkissed by Spring Quilt Kit just for you at a discounted price! And wait, that’s not all. This kit comes with a special bonus . . . A quilt label designed by the amazing Sweetwater team. Isn’t that just awesome?!?!

And of course, if you have any questions you can reach me at happyquiltingmelissa (at) gmail (dot) com. Oh, and feel free to stop by my little sewing stomping grounds www.happyquiltingmelissa.blogspot.com to see what I am up to. I love visitors. Happy Quilting to you all!

BACKING
4 Yards of Ivory Meadow Sweet (5444-16) cut into two 2 yard pieces and sewn together at the selvage end.

STEP 1 – CUTTING

Grab your 5 Picnic Plaid pieces. Lay the first piece on your mat. Cut a nice straight edge and then measure over 8 inches and cut the entire width of the fabric creating an 8″ strip.

Now trim the selvage off the top of your strip. Measure down 8″ and cut on the horizontal line to create (2) 8″ squares. Now measure down another 8″ and cut again for 2 more 8″ squares. A total of four 8″ squares. You will have a little scrap left over. (I used these to make a pillowcase to match). Repeat with the other 4 prints so you have a total of twenty 8″ squares. Wonderful!!

Now onto your white yardage. First we are going to be cutting 4 1/4″ squares. We need 80. So I did these in 2 sets of 4 strips. Cut four 4 1/4″ strips without moving them after cutting. Now line your ruler up along the horizontal 21 1/2″ horizontal line on your mat. Now you probably don’t have a 21 1/2″ line on your mat, so line your 1/2 mark on your ruler with the 21″ line on your mat. This should make your ruler edge now at 21 1/2″. This is a handy little trick you will be using a lot 🙂 Go ahead and cut horizontally, trimming off your selvage edge.

Now measure down 4 1/4″ so that you are lining up along 17 1/4″ and cut. Continue measuring down 4 1/4″ and cutting 4 more times. (Lining up along 13″, 8 3/4″, 4 1/2″, 1/4″). You now have 40 squares, 1/2 of what you need. So cut another four 4 1/4″ strips and repeat. Now you have 80 squares. Perfect!!!

Now all you have left is to cut the sashing. We’ll start with the small pieces. Cut 8 strips 1 1/2″ wide x WOF.

Trim the selvage edge off of the top. Now measure down 15 1/2″ and cut. You will be using 15 of the 16 strips you just cut. Set one in scrap along with the small strip sets left under you ruler 🙂

Now onto our longer sashing. Cut three 1 1/2″ x WOF strips. Now trim the selvage on the top and slice the tiniest bit you can off the bottom to make 6 strips instead of 3.

Last of the cutting. Cut 10 more 1 1/2″ x WOF strips. Trim the selvages off the top.

Okay, so trust me, when you get to adding your sashing you are going to be so excited you will just want to hurry and finish. So we are going to put the sashing together now so they are ready to go. Grab your six 1 1/2″ x 21″ish pieces along with 6 WOF strips. Now place a WOF strip right sides together with a 21″ish strip and sew a 1/4″ seam along the bottom to make a 65″ ish strip. Repeat with all 6 sets.

Lastly, grab your remaining four 1 1/2″ X WOF strips and sew them together into two sets of 2 just like above creating two 87″ish strips. And you’re done with cutting!!!!

STEP 2 – QUARTER SQUARE TRIANGLES

Grab your beautiful Sunkissed layer cake and open it up 🙂 Isn’t that fun!!! Separate your prints into the following groups. You have 5 sets that have 4 base colors and 2 white with the base color in it. The remaining 12 prints will be used for appliqué. You will also be using 8 squares of your Moda Bella Solids White charm pack for each set.

I found it easiest to work with one color group at a time. I started with pink at my daughter’s request. Match up your blocks in 4 sets of 2 that are placed right sides together. Make sure to leave the White base prints on top, including laying out your 4 charm squares to make a “white layer cake”.

Now go ahead and draw a vertical line down the center of the layer cake set. (5″ in) and then a horizontal line down the center (5″ in) as well. You will not have to mark the Charm Pack sets, obviously). I used a water soluble marker but you can just use a pen if you don’t have one.

Now mark a diagonal line from corner to corner across each of the 4 squares you just drew. Repeat this for all 4 sets. Yes, you need to mark the charm pack ones this time 🙂

This is how your 4 sets should look now 🙂 You with me? Okay, lets move on 🙂

Go ahead and place a pin along the outer and inner edge of each line. Leave enough space for your presser foot to pass by without having to remove the pins – this just saves a bit of time 🙂

Now you are ready to sew your sets. Start at the top of your block. Line the 1/4″ line on your presser foot (mine is just inside the edge of my foot, if that helps) along the drawn line. Now sew a 1/4″ seam along the outside of your drawn line. Continue off the edge of the fabric. No need to clip your threads, just pivot and continue on until you have sewn all 4 outer seams. Repeat for your other 3 sets.

Now you are ready to sew the inner seam. Start 1/4″ in from the edge of your fabric. Once again line your 1/4″ line on your presser foot up with your drawn line (My foot has a line on both sides. If yours doesn’t, just go the opposite direction so you can keep things lined up and sew your 1/4″ seam along the inside of your drawn line). This time, stop when you reach the drawn line or the edge of your charm square. Pivot and continue on until you have sewn all 4 seams. Repeat with your remaining 3 sets.

Now the sewing part is done and you are ready to cut your pieces. Make when cutting that you do not pick up any of your pieces until all of the cutting is finished 🙂 Start by cutting along the center horizontal and vertical lines.

Now line your ruler up along the diagonal line you drew through each of the four squares. Cut right along the line in all 4 squares.

Lastly, line your ruler up diagonally from end-to-end of your block. There is no line, but check to make sure you are lined up through the center of the lines you have already cut. Cut from corner-to-corner. Now turn your ruler and cut diagonally again from the other corner. Repeat with your remaining 3 sets.

Now you have 16 two piece triangles from each set. Press them to the dark side. (I can’t say that without thinking of Star Wars.)

And there you have it. All the pieces you need to make your blocks. Go back up to the top of the Quarter Square Triangles and repeat the process for each of the remaining 4 colorways. Whew, that took a little while 🙂 Now place sixteen 4 1/4″ white squares and the 4 color coordinated 8″ squares with their triangles sets. You are ready to start putting your blocks together!!! Yippee Skippee!!!

STEP 3 – MAKING THE BLOCK

Once again, I found it easiest to do one color set at a time here. And once again, my daughter requested pink 🙂 Start by grouping your triangles. There should be 8 similar triangles and 8 opposite triangles of each set. Now group them together into sets of 2. Make sure that your groups each have a solid white 1/4 triangle and a background white 1/4 triangle. I kept my opposite groups the same. Sorry, I know this sounds confusing but just follow the picture and you will be fine 🙂

Now we are going to sew our triangle sets into squares. There will be 8 sets of 4 different blocks. I am only going to show one so you can keep track but you can go ahead and do all of the eight at the same time. Line your blocks up as follows. Make sure your “whites” are opposite each other, otherwise you have mixed something up 😉

Now place them right sides together and pin making sure to “nest” your center seam.

Sew a 1/4″ seam along the pinned edge of your triangle blocks. Chain stitch all of your pieces this way. Meaning, once you have finished one, don’t clip your threads. Just keep feeding them through until you have sewn them all.

Now clip your threads between your pieces. Press your seams. I pressed in one direction but there were some bulky areas, so if you don’t like dealing with that you might want to press your seams open. Clip the little tails on the 4 corners of your blocks 🙂

So now you are here (except that you should have all squares and no more triangles.) Notice that you are keeping the same prints on top in each set, the color triangles are just in reverse order.

Lay your top block onto your bottom block and pink along the center. Once again, make sure that you see the same prints on top in both sets 🙂 Repeat for all of your pieces. Chain stitch a 1/4″ seam along the pinned edge of your pieces. Clip your threads between pieces and press.

Now your blocks are to this point and you are ready to layout your block. Are you getting excited??? There will be 2 layouts, as you have 2 different sets of blocks. (They are super similar, just opposite colored triangle placement.) You will be making 2 blocks of each layout. So sort your pieces and lay them out as follows.

Now, the fun part 🙂 Lay your 4 1/4″ blocks on top of your horizontal pieces rectangle with right sides together, one on each end. Pin. Repeat for all of your horizontal pieced rectangles. Now chain stitch a 1/4″ seam, clip your threads, and press out to the white.

Now with the horizontal pieces done, you are ready to move on the vertical ones. Lay your vertical pieced rectangles along the sides of your 8″ center square with right sides together. To make sure you still have the right layout, check that the white print triangles are lined up with the edge of your center block. Pin along the edge. Chain stitch your 1/4″ seam along all the pieces, clip your threads between pieces and press towards your center block.

So now you are here and you should have 4 blocks (2 of each layout) at this point. Are you still with me? Awesome!!! You almost have your blocks all put together 🙂

Go ahead and lay your now pieced top and bottom rows of your block onto your center row. Once again, your white print blocks should be lined up with the edge of your center blocks. Go ahead and pink, making sure to match up your seams where the arrows point. You know what is next. Sew your 1/4″ seam along both sides of your block, clip threads, and press 🙂

And there you have it!! 4 beautiful “sunshine” blocks that just warm your heart!! Go back to the beginning of the Making the Blocks step and repeat the process for your remaining 4 color ways.

STEP 4 – APPLIQUÉ

This is the part of the quilt that gives each its own uniqueness and really makes it pop!!! Grab your 12 remaining layer cake pieces that you set aside at the beginning. On the wrong side of each print fuse a square of Heat N Bond. Now go ahead and draw some flowers onto the paper side of the Heat N Bond. There is a template attached for the flowers I used but feel free to create your own. I tried to get 4 to 5 flowers out of each cake slice.

Go ahead and cut out your flowers. You don’t have to cut out the centers if you don’t want, I just added that so I could mix the colors up a bit 🙂

Lay your flowers out on the center of your blocks. This is where you get to be creative so do what you like!!! I made cluster’s of 2 and 3. When you have a layout you like iron them on and then permanently attach them by stitching around your appliqué. I did a zig-zag around the centers and a blanket stitch around the outside in coordinating colors 🙂

And there you have your blocks!! Don’t they just Sing Spring!!! I just love them!!!

STEP 5 – PUTTING THE TOP TOGETHER

Now that your blocks are all finished, you are ready to sew your quilt top together. Layout your quilt with 4 blocks across and 5 blocks down. This is the layout I liked but you do what looks good to your eye 🙂 Once you have a layout you like, make sure to have a way to get back to it. I either mark my edges with pins or I just take a picture of it to refer back to.

To start, you need to attach a small sashing piece to the right hand side of the first three blocks of each row. So grab your 15 small sashing pieces (15 1/2″ x 1 1/2″ white strips) and lay them along the right hand side of your designated blocks. There really ins’t a need to pin but you can if you like. Stitch a 1/4″ seam along the edge of all 15 blocks and then clip your threads and press towards the sashing.

So this is what your rows should look like now. Ready to be sewn together.

Lay your block 2 onto your block 1 with right sides together and your block 4 onto your block 3 with right sides together. Pin along the edges. Repeat for all 5 rows.

Now sew 1/4″ seam, clip your threads and press. Your rows should now look like this. Just one seam left 🙂

Lay your now sewn together blocks 3 and 4 onto your now sewn together blocks 1 and 2. Once again Pin along the edge. Repeat for all 5 rows. Sew a 1/4″ seam, clip your threads, and press toward the sashing. And whala!! Your rows are complete. (Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of the completed rows 🙂

So now with your rows complete you are going to sew them together. This is the exact same process of sewing the rows together, just on a larger, longer scale. We start by adding sashing. Grab your six long sashing strips (65″ ish x 1 1/2″ white strips) and lay them right sides together along the top of each row and one final strip along the bottom of your 5 row. Make sure you are right sides together, you do have a seam in there 🙂 Once again, no need to pin, just line up as you go. Sew a 1/4″ seam along the edge, trim the excess fabric from your sashing, and press.

Now we simply sew our rows together, just like before but once again, on a longer scale. Lay row 1 onto row 2 with right sides together. Lay row 3 onto row 4 with right sides together. Make sure to line up the seams. You will have to do this by feel as you are pinning to sashing but it is important to make sure your vertical sashing strips are going to end up lined up 🙂 Do the center sashing first, and then move out to the side sashings 🙂 Sew your 1/4″ seam along your two pinned lines and press.

Now repeat the same process by first laying row 5 onto the now sewn together row 3 and 4 with right sides together. Line up your seams, pin, sew, and press. Then last but not least. Lay your now sewn together rows 1 and 2 onto your now sewn together rows 3, 4, and 5, pin, sew, and press. You are here now, only one thing left 🙂 This is so exciting!!!

Grab your finial 2 sashing strips. The super long ones. (87″ish x 1 1/2″). Lay one along each side of your quilt with right sides together. Once again, double check you don’t have a raw seam that is going to show. Sew a 1//4″ seam along the sides, trim the excess sashing, and press.

And there you have it!!! Your quilt top is finished!!! Isn’t it just Marvelous!!!

STEP 5 – FINISHING YOUR QUILT

To make your backing, take your 4 yards and cut it into two, 2 yard pieces. Now place it right sides together and sew along the selvage edge. Make sure to give it a good pressing before 🙂

So you are ready to put it together now. First – make your quilt sandwich. It really helps to tape your backing down onto a wood floor. Now go ahead and baste the sandwich, seriously the more pins the better.

Now onto quilting. I quilted this on my my little Bernina so it can be done on a regular sewing machine. I choose to do some custom quilting with coordinating color small loops in the blocks and then white loops with flowers in the sashing. If you are new to quilting, there are tons of tutorials out there on free motion quilting, just Google it and practice or you can always just send it out to be quilted. There are some amazing long arm quilters out there 🙂

Last but not least, binding. Grab your 3/4″ binding print and cut it into eight 2 1/2″ strips. If you are not sure on how to make a binding or attach it there is a great tutorial here .

And you are done!! Way to go! Don’t you just love it!!!!

One absolutely adorable spring time quilt measuring appx. 65 x 81.

Now sit back and Snuggle up with your amazing creation!! Oh, and while you are enjoying head over to my Happy Quilting Tutorial’s Flickr page to upload your quilt. I would love to see your work! Happy Quilting!!

By Day I am a wife and stay-at-home Mom of 5 little kiddos. By Night (and nap time) I am a quilting devotee. Happy Quilting (www.happyquiltingmelissa.com) started out as place to share my creative endeavors. Now it's grown into a pattern company. I can't wait to see where it leads me next 🙂

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